WOYWW 832

 YOU'RE SIXTEEN, YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL AND YOU'RE MINE

OR

SIXTEEN TONS AND WHAT DO YOU GET?
ANOTHER DAY OLDER AND DEEPER IN DEBT!

Well, how did this happen then? 16 years of crafty snooping and shenanigans and the thing is, it's just as good now as it was back then. The friendships and ideas are still fresh and fun every week and, while we may remember and mourn some wonderful gals who are no longer with us, I'm so very glad our paths crossed. My life has been enhanced so much by this weekly meet-up, thanks to Julia for kick starting it and Sarah for continuing to keep us in line *grin*

This is my virtual ATC:

I just love colour! So it's a simple effort but I enjoyed creating it. Whoever is below me on the list will get this as a card instead of an ATC, hope that's ok xx

Please forgive me if I'm late with commenting but we're away in Ceredigion for a week with this view to look at every day from our holiday cottage:

It's gorgeous in the day and just as beautiful in the evening:

We've not watched much tv, this is too amazing and it's been like this everyday so far.

We've walked and talked and played lots of games of cribbage and Yahtzee, the perfect break with my gorgeous menfolk!

I found a yarn shop - quelle surprise - it was in the undercroft of the newly refurnished Cardigan market, cracking spot eh? I might have bought some more variegated yarn, it would have been rude not to!

And this lady was at the National Wool Museum as part of the Ceredigion Weavers and Spinners Society who are celebrating their 50th Anniversary. She dyes her own rovings and was then spinning them into a beautiful marled yarn.

 One of her hangings, she does freeform stuff and doesn't follow patterns or plans - a kindred spirit there, lol!!

We also found other things to make us happy, this was one of the best:

A topiary Colin the Caterpillar! His head was about 5 ft and length about 30 ft in all, a work of art and he definitely made us smile xx

I'll have more crafting to share next week so will just close with another huge vote of thanks to you all for being such staunch friends and commenters. Thank You and long may it continue!

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WOYWW 831

 WE GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE....

It's been another week of beautiful weather again, not that I've seen a huge amount as I've been laid up with a nasty cold. Hey ho, I'm on the mend now, which is just as well as we're away for a week from Friday.

I've been kicked out of the JanCave! Mind you, there's a good reason:

Son No 1 is working from home here for a week before we all head off on our hols! I'm loving having him at home so I'm not complaining too much xx

My cutting station has moved to the dining room!

It's a useful old table this!

And the ironing is now taking place by my bedroom window:

Not a bad view really! I just hope my neighbours don't think I've turned into a curtain twitcher, lol!

The knitted blanket is almost completed:

It's been my go to when feeling crummy and I've been sitting watching the telly. Pretty ice-cream colours aren't they? This King Cole Cherish yarn is beautiful to work with, really soft and smooth.

I forgot to share this pic last week, I've been making more cross body bags and zipped purses to have more variety on the stall:

I'm not that keen on the cat pattern but people want that sort of thing and this was a remnant so worth a try!

Finally, we were sorting out a box from the attic and I found my old school photo - see if you can guess where I am!

I'm second row down from top, far left! The nice thing is that I'm still in contact with all the girls to my right, apart from the two next to me. That's rather fun, I'd like to say we haven't changed a bit....those were the days eh?!

Hope you have a great week, I've got to get my WOYWW 16 anniversary stuff organised this week cos I'll be away when writing my blog next Wednesday. Hope I can sort it out!

Until then, keep well and enjoy your crafting xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 830

 WHEN YOU COME HOME AGAIN TO WALES..

Hello everyone, hope you've had a good week whatever you've been up to! Hasn't the weather been amazing - there's been gardening, fence painting, lawn mowing and lots of washing going on as well as a bit of crafting!

I've booked up a fair in June that's in an area of predominantly Welsh language speakers so thought I'd make a few more things in the flag fabric:

And had a big old cutting out session.

Totes, bags, glasses case all ready for putting together.

Putting a zip pocket in a cross body bag - I used pins! Don't faint lol

It has a zipped top as well. Think the next version will have red zips, I think they'll look better. Ah well, it's all trial and error....mostly error in my case!!

I found a bag of zips that I'd got cheap off EBay a while back and never used because they weren't very sturdy:

Like a tangle of snakes! I sorted them out and they're going back on Ebay tomorrow, might as well get rid of them rather than them cluttering up the storage boxes.

And I started another baby blanket, this is a pretty variegated yarn, Cherish by King Cole:

Like Fairisle but without the work! And no ends to sew in either, woohoo! It's the simple things that mean the most eh?

Thanks for reading another week of nonsense, I'd better pull my finger out and think of something to do for the Virtual ATC, talk about leaving it til the last minute....

Have a good week!

WOYWW 829

 WILL YOU SEARCH THROUGH THE LOAMY EARTH FOR ME?

Hello lovely Deskers, hope you all had a nice Easter weekend - the weather was mostly good here and we got out for some nice local walks.

This was the desk yesterday, left after I'd been doing a bit of sewing and sorting on Easter Monday.

As well as being halfway through the bags, I ironed and trimmed all the quilt blocks that I've done so far. I think I'll have to put sashing between the blocks, it'll be too busy for the eyes otherwise.

I finished another baby blanket:

Lovely fresh colours! Now for sewing in the ends but there's not too many (yay!)  I know I could weave the ends in whilst knitting but I never seem to get as good a finish as when they get sewn in. Hey ho, I did it while watching University Challenge and it was soon done.

The Glynn Vivian gallery in Swansea has had an exhibition running called Come As You Really Are - it's a feast of all things that are made by crafters from steampunk Nerf Guns to sewing to Warcraft. This sewn hanging was rather beautiful:

Created by Dian Smith, she's called 'Blodeuwedd' or The Lady of the Flowers. The detail was amazing, it must have taken hundreds of hours....

Stunning. And then you go to the other extreme and visit the Mini Detectorists layouts!

Every single detail of the BBC series is correct! G and I are massive fans and treat ourselves to a yearly rewatch, it's honestly one of our favourite programmes ever.

These were created by Duncan Willis and were titled 'Duncan's Mini Detectorists Club' (DMDC, it's an in-joke!)

They had Simon and Garfunkel too:

And the naughty Mayor and Russell:

Just brilliant. Sorry if all this is Double Dutch to you but even if you don't know the characters, the model making skills can still be appreciated!

Have a great week and may your crafting run smoothly!
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WOYWW 828 - MY 700TH POST!

 GOT A GOOD THING GOING ON...

Hi there lovely Deskers and welcome to another week of crafty shenanigans! Today is my 700th post, how did that happen then? It only seems like yesterday that I was 'encouraged' to have a go and here we are, all these years later...I still can't believe that people read my witterings about what I get up to but I do really appreciate every comment and view xxxx

I have to apologise for not getting back to you last week, I didn't have a great few days but am feeling a bit better now. A little bit of crafting has been done so there is something to share for this special post!

View from the machine - I got one bag and 2 x cases and purses out of the free remnant from Pili Pala Fabrics and just had enough of that purple spot for the lining.

I also finished off the new waterlily and dragonfly, it's made for a gorgeous set, I'm sorely tempted to keep one for myself.

I was getting very low on a few colourways of the spot so:

What a pleasing parcel!

My mate Kim came over yesterday afternoon and we made a few more string blocks, she chose fabric and pinned, I sewed, great combo. I didn't take a pic though...doh... so here's the aftermath:

We must have made a dozen, it really speeded up the process having Kim do the choosing.

A couple of days ago this was the sight that greeted me on opening the curtains first thing:

Now that's not something you see everyday!!  It was attracting quite a bit of interest from the locals:

There was no note or anything and I couldn't bear the thought of it getting 'christened' by a dog so I put it on our front wall where it reclined in sunny splendour for a while!

I found out that a neighbour had put it there for someone to help themselves - I put the word out to some friends with grandkids and it was snapped up for an 9 year old girl who adores it, yay! 

I guess this blog has been an example of my usual style, a bit of crafting and then some random nonsense! Thank you for the friendship and caring community, I couldn't imagine my week without it. Hugs to you all!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 827

 GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNIN'

It's a very short and sweet one today as I've not been feeling too good for the past couple of days so forgive me if I'm late commenting too xx

It had been such a good week up until Monday as well! I'd made some trios with the new fabric:

I like this mosaic a lot and chose different colours as the contrast.  I might have bought a bit more fabric from Pili Pala as well.....

Aren't these lush? I love them both so much, the blue background of the bottom one glows in real life, they're both stunning.

Plus some more Luna and a remnant of puffins! That should keep me going for a while.

As some may have seen on FB, I did a craft fair on Saturday, having picked up a cancellation spot on the Friday morning. It was a smashing morning, lovely hall with a great vibe - I hope to be invited back at some point.

There was even a handy notice board behind me to pin up the remaining quilt! We did really well there and were finished by 12.30, even better.

There's always one troublemaker though!

What a cheeky chick and for once we're not talking about me, lol!

Hope you're doing well and enjoying your crafting, have a good week xxxxx

WOYWW 826

 I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD...

What a gorgeous week it's been, another few days of socialising, fund raising and walking...oh and a bit of crafting too! Otherwise this would be a very short post, lol!

I might have accidentally bought some new fabric last week! It was from Pili Pala Fabrics based near Tenby, the owner Sinead happened to be in my town on business and she dropped it off for me, now that's good customer service eh?! What a nice lady she is, I had paid for postage so instead she gave me half a metre of a fabric I've bought off her previously. This daffodils fabric is one of hers:

Pretty huh? It should go well round these parts.

I bought the mosaic and the rainbow leopard was my freebie, both will come in useful.

I finished the last baby blanket so started another:

I only bought two balls of that variegated blue/grey so am eking it out with white DK, I quite like the effect!

Last Saturday was the first of the Pembrey markets as some of you may have seen on FB:

It was a successful couple of hours - I took £208 and sold the quilt that's behind my head to the lovely beekeepers who run another stall. I'm nearly a third of the way to my 2025 target of £1500, if I do that then that'll take my fundraising to over £10k. There are two more stalls in April so we'll see how they go!

The tides here have been at their highest in recent days (9.32m yesterday) so when the sea goes out, it goes far far out. Hence our beach walk looked like this:

Where's all the water gone?! Isn't it amazing to think that if you walked straight ahead and kept going for a very long way, the next land you'd see would be Virginia or North Carolina. That's why, when the tide returns, there's a lot of Atlantic to come up this estuary. It was glorious to be out blowing the cobwebs off.

Hope you're all keeping well and have had a good week - may your crafting be stress free! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx